Car fire blanket

Someone forwarded this video to me and I thought I'd share it because it seems interesting. A good example of outside-the-box thinking (I'm not saying whether its a good idea or not, just an interesting concept). Anyway, what do you guys think?

"I have a dream. It's not a big dream, it's just a little dream. My dream — and I hope you don't find this too crazy — is that I would like the people of this community to feel that if, God forbid, there were a fire, calling the fire department would actually be a wise thing to do. You can't have people, if their houses are burning down, saying, 'Whatever you do, don't call the fire department!' That would be bad."
— C.D. Bales, "Roxanne"

It looks like a good concept. But, it puts you close to the car with no protection if (opposed to a fog pattern while approaching). It also looks like it takes just as long to roll it out as it would to get a 1 3/4 in service, and takes 10 minutes to work. I think I'll stick to water and foam. I see how it could be good to have in a police car or chief's car.

I'll agree with Charlie on this. Good concept to put the fire out, but when you pull it off, it's obvious you still need to overhaul the car...requiring a hoseline. So, if you have to stretch it anyway, why not just use it from the beginning...and cut the time in half.

I'll agree with Charlie on this. Good concept to put the fire out, but when you pull it off, it's obvious you still need to overhaul the car...requiring a hoseline. So, if you have to stretch it anyway, why not just use it from the beginning...and cut the time in half.

Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking. In the first video especially. If they'd rolled the video a couple minutes more after the blanket was removed, I think you'd have seen that car well involved again pretty soon.

"I have a dream. It's not a big dream, it's just a little dream. My dream — and I hope you don't find this too crazy — is that I would like the people of this community to feel that if, God forbid, there were a fire, calling the fire department would actually be a wise thing to do. You can't have people, if their houses are burning down, saying, 'Whatever you do, don't call the fire department!' That would be bad."
— C.D. Bales, "Roxanne"

I wouldn't say it put the fire out....controlled it, yes, but in that first video in particular, when they peeled the blanket back there was still a good volume of high-pressure smoke being generated. Sort of like creating a backdraft situation in a structure fire, they removed the oxygen but did not remove the fuel or the heat. Re-introduce air and poof, you've got fire again. I think if they'd kept the camera rolling another minute or two you'd have seen as much fire as they had when they arrived. So they'd still have to get in there with a handline to overhaul.

Like Charlie said, maybe a good tool for a chief's car to quickly control and contain the fire until the engine arrives to soak it down. The second video sort of presents a scenario where this might be useful...the parking lot or traffic jam where a chief's car might be able to get to the fire a lot quicker than the engine and contain the fire for a few minutes, protecting exposures until the engine arrives for extinguishment. I don't know, in a situation like that I could maybe see the advantage

"I have a dream. It's not a big dream, it's just a little dream. My dream — and I hope you don't find this too crazy — is that I would like the people of this community to feel that if, God forbid, there were a fire, calling the fire department would actually be a wise thing to do. You can't have people, if their houses are burning down, saying, 'Whatever you do, don't call the fire department!' That would be bad."
— C.D. Bales, "Roxanne"

its a nice idea, but I don't see it being worth the money. I already have a good tool on my fire engine for putting car fires out, so why spend the money on this big fire blanket?

I wonder how much it costs, I could probably use that money on more useful tools.

The only use I could see was a parking garage where you have a large exposure problem and delayed water on fire time because you'll be stretching from a standpipe. The truck could deploy this blanket while the engine stretches the line. But I don't know if the couple car fires in parking garages would make this worth the money.

Is it a matter of cost? or a matter of slow response times in volly world?

Any car fire I have been to that actually is a fire and not a cigarette in the seats, its a complete and total loss anyway!!

Water is almost free, manpower and rigs on scene are still needed to utilize that almost free water.

I say almost free, because our fd pays for each hydrant we have to the water company. We then pass that cost on to the community in our tax levy.

Didn't say I was advocating it, just putting it out there to generate some discussion because I thought it was an interesting concept. I agree that there don't seem to be enough advantages to radically change anyone's thinking or tactics.

"I have a dream. It's not a big dream, it's just a little dream. My dream — and I hope you don't find this too crazy — is that I would like the people of this community to feel that if, God forbid, there were a fire, calling the fire department would actually be a wise thing to do. You can't have people, if their houses are burning down, saying, 'Whatever you do, don't call the fire department!' That would be bad."
— C.D. Bales, "Roxanne"

This should be called the backdraft blanket. Because that is exactly what is going to happen. Its not cooling it at all. It just starving it of oxygen and insulating the heat in. Someone is going to get hurt when they go to remove it and eat a face full of fire.

I am also for new ideas and innovations. The problem is that it very often takes too long for hings to be accepted.

I'm not a bandwagon type of guy. Prove that the new idea or innovation works, and then I usually let one of the bigger and busier departments give it a shot first. My resources are far to slim and valuable to go chasing the latest fad.

Items/tools that we have now were introduced at some point nd were very likelty shunned and not at all welcomed.

And more then a few were junk, not worthy of the saliva it takes to spit on them with.

The FIT-PRO has been shunned on this board, yet generates very good press. Maybe in a few years they will be commonplace.

More then likely they will not be, and will be something we all joke about in the future.

I am not so sure of a fire blanket though for a car fire. The car is generally a total loss. Maybe there is another application for this product.

Don't be a hater. This is probably one of those miracle devices, like bottled air.

I could see this also used in a parking garage - I know the ones where I work will NOT fit an engine in there 0

In the videos, the people look like they are taking their time - so actual deployment would take less time.

Backdraft waiting to happen - yes, I could see that.

Protection of other vehicles - yes, I could see that too - again, in the parking garage situation.

I wonder if this would be practical, say, at an accident scene where you have an entrapment - with either fire or possiblility of fire - use the blanket as a shield while 1 crew attends to the fire/hazard and the other to the victim(s).......

The company website for one of the blankets says it is made of a fiberglass material, high heat resistance - from the firetexx website.....

Firetexx is a company established by Poly-Ned (www.polyned.nl). Firetexx capitalises on the growing demand for environmentally friendly fire prevention equipment. The Firetexx products are made of a fire resistant fabric, a product that, therefore, fits in well with the textile products of Poly-Ned. This fire-resistant textile is made of fibreglass with a fire-resisting coating. The textile is extremely fire-resistant. The heat radiation of the material is also extremely low! Firetexx currently has many applications for the material.

So, outside of a fire department use, I can see other applications for this.

I wonder if it would resist heat well enough to be used to cover exposures to auto/trash bin type fires. Something to keep that 40K car sitting 20 feet away from heat, water, flying trash damage.

I wonder what extra damage it causes to the surfaces under the vehicles as well. Retaining all that heat instead of knocking down the fire and dropping the heat level faster could be a problem on some surfaces.

Although on most of the roads in NY another pothole or two won't get noticed....